04/07/02 World Health Day

On the occasion of World Health Day Animal Friends organizes the action of distributing the packages of soya medallions, written materials about the hazards of meat, and leaflets with the recipes. The organization's members will distribute also the breaded medallions and inform the citizens about the exceptional health advantages of the vegetarianism.

The action will take place at the World Health Day, April 7, beginning at 11 A.M. at Ban Jelacic Square (the main square of the Croatian capitol, Zagreb).

Why are the meat eaters more prone to illnesses?

Biologists and the experts in nutricionism warn us that the men's intestines are not well adapted for meat digestion. The carnivores have shorter intestines (the intestines are only three times longer then the length of the body), so that decomposed meat which produces toxic substances is more rapidly thrown out of the organism. Since the plant food is decomposed more slowly, the animals which eat plants (herbivores) have the intestines ten times longer than the body length. The humans have the intestines similar to the latter case, so if they eat meat the toxins can cause the overload of the kidneys, autotoxemia, accumulation of urea acids and purines in the tissues as well as roting in the intestines.

This can lead to the illnesses such as arthritis, rheumatism, cancer, damage of the kidneys, schizophrenia, osteoporosis, arteriosclerosis, heart problems and many other.

Immediately after the animal is killed the proteins in its body start to coagulate and the selfdestructive enzymes are set free. Soon the substances called the ptomaines are formed due to which the meat and fish decompose and rot extremely fast. Just imagine the state of decomposition of the meat that reaches somebody's plate in a form of lunch!

The chemical additives, as well as oil derivatives, are added to meat in order to stimulate the growth and fast fattening. Animals are force fed and injected by growth hormones, appetite stimulatives, antibiotics and sedatives. As soon as the animal is slaughtered her flesh start to decompose and after a few days it obtains sickening gray-greenish colour. The meat industry hides this colour change by adding the nitrites, nitrates and other additives so that the meat would retain the nice red colour. Due to sedimentation of pesticides, heavy metals and other poisons from the fodder to the bodies of animals, the concentration of, for example, pesticides is even 14 times higher in meat and 5.5 times higher in dairy products as compared to vegetables. Cattle food is thus poisoned, and almost all dangerous substances end up in the flesh of animals.

One should also not forget a number of parasitic, bacterial and contagious diseases, which are solely connected with the food of animal origin; for example, Mad Cow Disease appeared when people started to feed the cows with the remnants of cows and other animals. Furthermore, thousands of dead cats and dogs (euthanized or killed in lab experiments), cattle heads and hoofs, warms in corpses of dead animals, poultry waste and spoiled meat products from shops end up in a cattle food and through the meat also in human food.

Due to unnatural environment and the way that they are fed, the animals bred to feed humans become ill not only from the various inflammations but also from malignant tumors and similar deformations. When these animals have cancer or tumors on certain part of the body, that part is removed and the rest, although filled with poisons and sickness, is sold as meat while the tumors end up in minced meat like various salami and sausages. The meat producers and sanitary inspectors repeatedly ignore that, as well as the very frequent dung inflammations of animals raised on farms, where the dung is washed out and the meat is further processed and sold.

The meat obtained on a private peasant farms is not better than the one from large industrial farms; cattle food is sprayed without control and most often the unskilled use of chemicals leads to wrong and overconcentrated use of pesticides and other chemicals. The animals are fed with the leftovers of the human food in which one can find meat and meat products as well as spoiled food, and additionally very often they are not subjected to veterinarian examinations, so the meat is thus not controlled.

It is a well known fact that the feelings cause large biochemical changes in the organism, especially the hormonal changes in the blood. Before and during the slaughter the scared animals experience big changes. Poisoned byproducts spread through the body, heavily poisoning all parts of the dying animal. Later on, human tissue and mind get poisoned as well.

Vegetarians have up to 20% lower mortality rate than those people that daily consume meat and meat products, which means that they live longer and do not become ill so often.

"I became vegetarian for the animals but there were other unexpected benefits. I started to feel healthier - I became more supple which is important for an athlete. I also needed less sleep and woke up feeling much fresher. My skin improved and I had more energy. I love being vegetarian." - Martina Navratilova, world tennis champion

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Animal Friends is a non-profit, non-governmental organization, founded in 2001 with the aim to promote animal protection and animal rights as well as veganism, as ethical, ecological and healthy lifestyle.
Animal Friends Croatia is a member organization of EVU,
Eurogroup for Animals, ECEAE, FFA, IAFC and OIPA.